


Jealous Much?

by RefrainGirl



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst with a Happy Ending, Boys In Love, Clubbing, Don't copy to another site, Drinking & Talking, Insecurity, Jealousy, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Minor Original Character(s), Possessive Behavior, Romance, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-28
Updated: 2019-11-28
Packaged: 2021-02-26 16:27:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21591259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RefrainGirl/pseuds/RefrainGirl
Summary: It's been forever since Ace and Sabo have had time to themselves. Watching over Luffy has taken up all of their attention, and as such they rarely find the time to be romantic with each other. So Ace suggests heading out together for a night of fun at one of his favorite clubs, and it was fun - right up until someone took his seat and his boyfriend's time.
Relationships: Portgas D. Ace/Sabo
Comments: 8
Kudos: 76
Collections: sa works i could read over and over





	Jealous Much?

Sabo had never been one to enjoy the clubbing scene, Ace knew, but he was still glad that his boyfriend had agreed to come along tonight. He really needed a few hours alone with the blonde, away from Luffy’s constant heckling and hunger pangs; just the two of them in a place together with no distractions, having the opportunity to be frivolous and enjoy each other’s company rather than spending all hours babysitting a nosy teenager.

Ace had been complaining very loudly about it not too long ago, said that they _had_ to set aside a date on the calendar just for them before he completely lost his shit. As much as they both adored Luffy, he was the absolute best cockblocker in the history of cockblocking. Nothing got past him and it was always on accident, which just pissed Ace off that much more. He couldn’t get mad at the kid when he wasn’t doing any of it on purpose! Things had gotten so bad at home that he couldn’t recall the last time that he and Sabo had kissed or held hands, let alone anything else. It had been - and still was - driving him up the wall. He honestly couldn’t hold back for much longer.

Thankfully it seemed like Sabo felt the same frustrations as him. Ace’s offer had been accepted without so much as a single complaint; and somehow, the blonde had already come up with a clever plan for Luffy to be ‘perfectly occupied’ all night long, the statement being followed up with an eager grin and a wink. So here they sat, drinking like fish and loving the feel of being close and uninterrupted.

Ace smiled, impressed, as Sabo downed a shot of rum in one go. Just because he didn’t think drinking was all it was cracked up to be didn’t mean he couldn’t hold his liquor. “Is that a challenge I see?” he asked, making Sabo snort in response.

“I have no idea what you’re seeing. Probably double of everything by now.”

”Well, if that’s the case,” Ace replied, leaning close to his ear, “then I must be the luckiest man alive.”

Sabo smirked at the cheesiness, shaking his head. “God, give you a beer and you start spitting corn.”

”You know you love it when I’m corny.”

Those emerald eyes were on him fast, sparkling in the soft light of the bar. “I also love it when you’re naked.”

”Ah, ah, ah. Not so fast, padre. You can’t just get me drunk and then tear my clothes off. I’m a lot more complicated than that.”

”I sure hope so,” Sabo laughed. He leaned in for a kiss and Ace gave it to him, breaths mingling and tongues tasting the sweet tang of alcohol. When they gently pulled apart, he noticed the pair of arms around his waist and chuckled. “I’m a lot more complicated than that too, you know.”

Ace rolled his eyes. “Don’t remind me,” he said, and the blonde laughed again. It was a gorgeous sound, his laugh. It made him want to jump for joy every time he successfully made his lover smile.

Those gloved hands moved up to rest on his shoulders, and Sabo leaned forward to place a tender kiss on the tip of his freckled nose. It was blissful and warm, his touch, comfortable in ways that Ace hadn’t experienced in so long. He really didn’t want to move, not yet; but, of course, nature called. They had been drinking for a couple of hours now and while Ace never seemed to have too many symptoms of drunkenness no matter how much he drank, he still couldn’t banish the regular workings of the human body.

With a small pat to the ass that made Sabo blush with pleased heat, he moved to get out of the booth. “I’ll be right back, washroom break.”

“How romantic of you,” came the dry response and Ace stuck out his tongue as he turned to go. Before he moved too far away he heard another sarcastic comment carry over the crowd. “Don’t expect me to join you in there.”

He was walking on air the whole way.

* * *

Unfortunately, the trip back to the booth wasn’t nearly as pleasant. Ace stood a little ways back, far enough to go unnoticed by Sabo. Every nerve in his body told him to march right up there and punch the shit out of the stranger that was in his seat, but for once Ace’s brain had booted up to deliver a dose of common sense. He had been in plenty of bar fights before - they were nasty, brutal affairs, and more often than not they involved either an ambulance, a cop car or both. Well, all the ones he’d participated in had ended like that, anyway. If he were here alone, he wouldn’t have thought twice about a confrontation.

_But Sabo is here. I can’t start anything and risk him getting hurt._

Growling, he tried to come up with a concise plan to eject the unknown variable out of his life without it involving murder. But anger was a tricky thing for him to control and it was doing its best to twist his thoughts, encouraging him to make poorer decisions than he should make. Sabo laughed at whatever the man had said to him, and the brunet immediately felt the spike in his rage. It was like dropping a match on gasoline. How dare that piece of shit make his boyfriend laugh! Only Ace had the privilege to do that! He almost lurched forward with the intent to strangle that bastard, but instead he gripped the edge of the counter he was leaning against. A small crack was heard, making the other patrons search for the source of the sound, but Ace didn’t care.

All he cared about was who the hell was in his fucking booth with _his_ blonde.

Difficult as it was to remain calm, Ace took a deep breath and hissed it out through clenched teeth. There had to be a better way to deal with this. He turned his head away slightly, trying to keep it together. “They’re probably just friends,” he tried to convince himself, breathing slowly to still his racing heart. “Sabo has tons of them, just like I do. He never gets even slightly pissy when I hang with Thatch or Marco, so this shouldn’t be any different, right? Ugh… I can’t afford to overreact again. Fuck. Calm the fuck down!”

Yes, it had happened before. Many times, actually. If he saw someone he didn’t know near Sabo he instantly became suspicious, uncomfortable and wary of their intentions. He talked far too curtly during those moments, snapping out harsh words that weren’t easily forgiven, and he wasn’t surprised to hear that he’d offended many people over the years without realizing or caring in the least; but his barbaric behavior had only started to seem like a bad thing when Sabo informed him of it after the fact. His disappointed expression never failed to make Ace feel guilty about the unholy savageness lurking within his heart. Thanks to that, he now understood that he was pushing his luck whenever the green-eyed monster reared its ugly head. Seriously, he’d have to be completely stupid not to get it after spending countless nights sleeping on the couch with no pillow.

The main problem was that he couldn’t stop snarling when girls and guys allowed themselves to be charmed by Sabo. His looks, his personality, his smile… Everything about him drew the wrong kind of attention and there was nothing Ace could do about that except bare his teeth like a rabid dog, reminding them all that he was in the arms of someone who had the ability to end them with a single punch should they think to interfere.

Of course the situation spiraled downhill that much faster if they made a move to touch Sabo. Anything that looked like flirtatious contact flipped the switch and made Ace turn into Mr. Violent. The blonde didn’t appreciate seeing that side of him as it was, so he really didn’t want to know who Ace might become if someone had the urge to try and kiss him while he was watching.

 _This asshole better not even go there,_ he thought darkly, returning his gaze hesitantly to the booth.

Whatever they were talking about seemed light, and Sabo was smiling casually through most of it. Nodding his head, saying his piece, throwing in the occasional laugh that made Ace’s blood boil. These two were acting familiar, and he could assume they were friends. Close friends, even. Although he hated seeing anybody else make his lover laugh, he decided that if they were simply friends then it would be fine. He could let it pass without taking action.

Then the mysterious person leaned forward, with their arm reaching over the table, and placed their hand on top of the one that Sabo had left sitting there.

Ace saw red.

Sitting and talking was one thing. Making the blonde laugh was aggravating, but he could ignore it as long as it was just a friend committing the offense.

Touching him, at all, in any way, was crossing the fucking line.

All of the effort he had taken to cool off was thrown away the instant he saw it happen. His hands detached from the counter (leaving behind a few dents where the wood had split) and his legs took him across the room in a matter of seconds. Sabo glanced up, noticing that Ace was stalking purposefully in their direction out of the corner of his eye, and his smile immediately dropped. He quickly tugged his hand away from the one it was pinned under, pleading gaze imploring his lover to take a minute to chill. The time for that was long past, however.

“Hey, you!” Ace snapped, stopping by the table to scowl his hate at the other person, who looked up in utter confusion.

“Um, is there a problem?” he had the gall to ask.

Fucking right there was a problem. Ace cocked his head dangerously to the side, looking for all the world like a psychopath. “Yeah, there is. You’re in my fucking seat.” He cracked his knuckles. Loudly. “Get lost.”

Sabo and his unknown companion both stared at him like he’d just lost his mind. It was fairly close to the truth. “Ace,” he started, giving a worried look towards the person, “We were just catching up. This is - “

“I don’t give a shit who he is, I want him gone,” the brunet spat. That was enough to make Sabo frown.

“Oh right, I forgot that having friends is against the law. Calm down.”

“Seriously? You’re going to make me out as the asshole?” Ace gave him an exasperated look. “I haven’t done anything yet!”

“And what exactly were you going to do?” the blonde asked, eyebrow raised. “Stomp over here all macho and beat the bones in his body into paste? You always do this to me when someone comes over! You get so suspicious, so protective! It’s not necessary!”

Ace did his level best not to snarl. The only thing keeping him from knocking teeth loose was seeing that disappointed look in Sabo’s eyes. It was consuming his face, just like it had in the past, and knowing that such distaste was there because of his actions made Ace hate himself more than ever before. He’d gone and upset the blonde with his irrational, flaming fury. Again.

God damn barbarian. That’s all he was.

It took a shit-ton of willpower but he fought down the urge to maim Sabo’s friend, who was starting to show a hint of worry towards his own safety. “I… wasn’t going to do that this time,” he admitted in a tight voice. He clenched and unclenched his fists, as though his body had been considering it as an option despite him making up his mind to resolve this as calmly as possible. “I wanted to at first, I still want to. But I want to please you more than anything else. And, believe it or not ‘Bo, this is me trying not to be the stupid, aggressive bastard that always shows up when people give you any kind of affection.”

Ace’s scowl lessened, though his fists were still trembling with barely subdued rage. “This is the most difficult thing that I’ve ever had to do in my life. I saw him touch you, and I can’t just ignore that. You don’t like when girls cling to me, so why should I let anyone get that close to you? Every single part of me doesn’t want to let it go, but instead I’m forcing myself not to react. I stood there and _watched_ as someone else made you smile, and that pisses me off… How am I supposed to feel when I see how replaceable I can be!?”

The irritation that had once been in Sabo’s eyes dissolved away. His lips fell open slightly, but Ace didn’t let him speak. He ran his hands through his hair, trying to keep them busy so that he wouldn’t end up spending another night in some dingy cell. “I’m sorry, alright? I’m a big oaf who gets jealous over dumb stuff! I’m sure this piece of shit is half decent, but to me all I can see is a threat.”

The stranger chuckled slightly at the insult and relaxed the tiniest bit. “No offense taken.”

“You shut the fuck up, I’m not talking to you,” Ace snapped. He shoved his hands into his pockets, turning his taut face back to Sabo. “I know I have no reason to get this crazy. You think I don’t see how idiotic I’m being!? Whenever I get like this, I ruin everything. Friendships, relationships, everything. I hate this side of me sometimes, I just absolutely _hate_ it.”

Feeling less than impressed with his failings, Ace gestured to himself, his hands still hiding in his pockets. “This is who I am, though. I’ve always been a hothead, and you know it as well as I do. Probably even better than I do, because when I get mad I don’t even think, I just act. You’ve seen it - you’ve even tried to drag me out of it a few times.”

A small smile appeared on the blonde’s face, and Ace was taken aback. Usually when he got this way it made him distressed, which then made Ace want to fling himself off a building for being the stupid prick that he swore he’d never be again. But this smile was new. It was understanding and compassion combined, and the sight of such loving warmth aimed in his direction was enough to stall Ace’s ire in its tracks.

“You’re welcome, by the way,” Sabo drawled, leaning his chin on his hand. “Honestly, where would you be without me?”

Ace blinked, pursing his lips as he tried to come up with something intelligent to say. The sensitive side he rarely showed was reserved for private places and now here he was, about to spout off sappy nonsense in a club. He’d almost spoken up without even thinking it through first. Fuck, this kind of thing always made him act awkward as hell, but he had to do it! He had to one-up that smug bastard who was sitting in his spot, staring at him like he was one of the more amusing acts at a carnival! He wanted to show the jerk that Sabo wouldn’t be running to him any time soon, no matter if that was his plan or not. He had to prove that he loved Sabo the most out of every other competitor on this damn planet! Also, he was sure that his boyfriend would enjoy a bit of sincerity on his part, especially since he didn’t show his sweeter side that often when they were out and about.

 _You know, Sabo will probably enjoy this far too much,_ he thought, reluctantly examining the smirk that was spreading across his handsome blonde’s face. He was probably going to laugh at him. No, scratch that, he was _definitely_ going to laugh. He lived to tease, and Ace had been perfectly teasable material ever since they first met.

Ugh, he could feel the heat of a blush sneaking up on him and he hadn’t said a word yet. Ending this peacefully was taking a bigger toll than he thought it would. At least when he was in a fight he had adrenaline to keep him going. Once he punched a guy unconscious, then it was over and he felt great afterward. This, right now, was endless stress. He wasn’t used to being romantic in front of an audience…

Shit, he was starting to regret this plan already.

“See? This is what I was telling you about,” Sabo said after a minute of uncomfortable silence, grinning over at his supposed ‘friend’ with fond amusement. “He’s all tough on the outside but once you break through his shell, he’s gooey inside.”

The blush Ace had been struggling to hide burned his entire face all the way down to his neck. He ripped his hands out of his pockets, slamming them both down onto the table as he leaned in to glare. “The fuck!? What lies have you been spreading about me now!?”

“Nothing that’s not true,” his lover reassured him, tossing him a wink as he stuck his tongue out. “He was curious about what my boyfriend was like, so I told him.”

“He doesn’t deserve to know!” Ace growled, reaching to grab at Sabo’s collar. Despite their faces being inches apart, Ace’s intimidating snarl wasn’t working against that cocky bastard in the least. “You don’t just give an opponent a list of your weaknesses, dumbass!”

“Then you shouldn’t have opened up to me, Ace.”

Sabo leaned forward, his lips grazing against the hot skin of his neck. Such a soft touch that he shouldn’t have felt it, but he did. Boy, did Ace ever feel it. His entire body twitched in response and he turned away, swearing under his breath. “That’s cheating,” he complained, releasing the blonde’s collar with a pout. “You know I can’t resist that.”

Once Sabo had settled back into his seat, he shrugged playfully. “Like I said, a total softie. It’s too bad he doesn’t show that side to people unless I goad it out of him. More often than not, he acts rough and ends up getting me involved in worlds of trouble. It’s exhausting sometimes, but what can I do? I love him to pieces.”

Hearing that, Ace stiffened. He’d been bragging about how much he loved Ace? All those times before, while Ace was watching Sabo chat, was the topic really about nothing substantial other than Sabo’s feelings for him? Maybe that was why the blonde hated it when he went off the deep end. Ace didn’t know that he was telling his friends exactly how much he meant to him. All of the remaining fury faded out of existence, and Ace had to bite his lip to hide his happiness. God, he loved this man too much.

“I was going to be sweet until you egged me on…” Ace murmured, glancing off to the side. He could feel his cheeks heating up all over again in anticipation of what he was about to say. “But I’m glad that you won’t abandon me, no matter what kind of situation I drag you into. I want you to understand that I… I l-love you so much.”

Emerald eyes blinked up at him in surprise. Sabo hadn’t been expecting that, but once the shock melted away Ace could see that his lover was pleased with the sudden admission. “Wow, so cute,” he cooed, snickering even harder when Ace had to divert his embarrassment towards the roof for a while. “You’re such a sweetheart!”

“Ugh, you’re making it worse,” he groaned, slapping a hand to his burning face. “I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“I’m happy that you did.”

He peeked through his fingers and the blonde was genuinely smiling up at him this time. “Yeah?”

Sabo nodded, tucking some hair behind his ear as his own face took on a bit of color. “Yeah. I, um… I love you too, Ace.”

“But don’t hold it against me if I feel a tiny scrap of fear in my gut when I watch you hanging out with others, acting so fucking charming and shit. Everyone likes you, and that’s exactly what I’m afraid of.”

Ace pouted in annoyance at the mere thought and Sabo beamed at him, holding out his hand. “That’s what love means, you idiot.” He chuckled as Ace carefully took it, tugging his boyfriend down onto the seat beside him. In a flash he was sitting directly in Ace’s lap, arms flung around his neck, and that smile that he loved to see was displayed proudly across his face. “It’s more than kisses and sex. It’s about intimacy. Fondness, adoration, a slight bit of anxiety. Even jealousy has its place in the grand scheme of things. That’s how I can tell that I mean the world to you, and it’s why I stick by you, even when you take stupidity to whole new heights.”

The man across from them, seeing what was happening as his cue to leave, said a brief goodbye that Ace neither heard nor gave a shit about. His vision was too full of a certain blonde’s vivacity. Everything seemed to sparkle around him, and he was blown away by how beautiful this man could be. Normally quite reserved and not one for turning himself into a wanton sight, Sabo was currently defying his own nature and managing to turn Ace on immensely in the process.

“Wow. Is this the booze talking or what?” he breathed, moving his hands up to cup the blonde’s ass and bring his hips flush against him. “Shit, this is making me fucking hard, ‘Bo.”

“Well, I just want you to know that every once in a very long while…” Sabo gasped, his fingers tightening in Ace’s strands of hair by his nape. “Your jealousy ends up making me hot. You’re a fool most of the time, but tonight my hair stood on end. You were so sexy.”

The brunet smiled, amazed that something like that could be considered sexy. “Huh. Remind me to bring my testosterone on every flirting attempt.”

”Like you need reminding,” Sabo teased with a chuckle, leaning down to kiss his lips. “As long as you don’t beat anybody up, I don’t mind it.”

“Yeah well… I’ll have to work on that,” he mumbled. After a moment of delicious kisses and touches, he beamed up at his lover. “Wait. Does this mean you’re reconsidering the washroom offer!?”

Sabo sighed and shook his head. “Absolutely shameless,” he complained, but from the twinkle in his eyes Ace knew that it was a definite yes.

**Author's Note:**

> Come and say hi on Tumblr!
> 
> You can find me at my main blog [@refraingirl](https://refraingirl.tumblr.com/) or at my writing blog [@refraingirl-the-writer](https://refraingirl-the-writer.tumblr.com/)!


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